Growing up, my mom refused to tie or brush my hair. I assure you, it was both annoying, and strange to me. Her standard reply was ; ‘Nazar lag jaeย go’ย (Your hair will get my evil eye). Of course, its a common belief in Desi Culture, that mothers swoon over their babies, and worry consistently over them. Anyhow, coming back to my hair, despite refusal to brush my hair, my mom was the mastermind behind the Hair Oil concotion that she would cook. This oil was like a potion, which gave me lustrous thick shiny locks, which were always a source of envy to my best buddyย Mashae.
Now that I am on my own, I have my own tricks up my sleeve for mainating my hair. Here is a list of a few that I do…
I like to use a mask ofย Henna once a month to give hair shine. Since I don’t use it for coloring, I am not bothered about getting any orange tint. I have found that the Henna block I get from Lush is the best. It does not have any artificial dyes, so the color needs time to set in. Thus, making it ideal for a mask.
Henna Mask Recipe:
2 squares of Lush Henna
1 egg
1 tbsp coffee
Few pieces of Gooseberry (Amla) (Optional)
Mustard oil as much as needed to make honey consistency paste
Soak the Gooseberry in 1 cup hot water over night. In morning squeeze and remove the gooseberry. Heat the liquid, and use it to dissolve the Henna. It is suggested to chop the Henna cubes for easy dissolving. Once mixed, add Mustard Oil and coffee. In the very end , break in the egg, and mix vigorously. Your Henna should not be very hot by now, otherwise, you will get scrambled egg on top of it!!
I like to apply this to my hair while warm, and leave it for maximum 1-2 hours.
I rinse my hair in lukewarm running water, until water is more or less clear. To get out the last bits, I take a dalop of Vatika Hair Mask, and massage it into my hair. Leave it for 5-8 minutes, and rinse it with water.
To get the perfect shine, and to avoid any egg smell, end the rinse with a Vinegar Rinse. Take 1 cup of plain white Vinegar and dilute it in 1 L of water and rinse your hair well with it.
The above sounds like a lot of work! But the bounce you get, and the hair growth spurt you see, makes it truly worth it to be done once a month.
Let me know if you try this, and how did it go ๐
Note: The Vatika Hair Mask was a discovery, which I have used in so many ways. It can be used like a regular conditioner. Just take a small amount and rub into your hair after shampoo and rinse.
Or, you can use it as a mask on its own. Dampen your hair with little water, and work the mask through your hair and leave for an hour. Shampoo as usual.
My favorite is to mix the mask with oil and apply to my hair and shampoo after few hours.
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